All Blog Posts Tagged 'Garden' - Think Atheist2016-12-09T16:13:08Zhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profiles/blog/feed?tag=Garden&xn_auth=noFruit of the tree of knowledge of good and eviltag:www.thinkatheist.com,2014-03-18:1982180:BlogPost:14420522014-03-18T11:56:04.000ZSimon Payntonhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/SimonPaynton
<p><strong>But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.</strong></p>
<p><strong>― Genesis 2:17</strong></p>
<p><br></br>If we interpret this sentence in a certain way, it tells us almost everything we need to know about personal morality.</p>
<p>We normally talk about the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Fruit = consequences. </p>
<p>Good and Evil can be seen as Good and Bad ― Liking and…</p>
<p><strong>But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.</strong></p>
<p><strong>― Genesis 2:17</strong></p>
<p><br/>If we interpret this sentence in a certain way, it tells us almost everything we need to know about personal morality.</p>
<p>We normally talk about the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Fruit = consequences. </p>
<p>Good and Evil can be seen as Good and Bad ― Liking and Not Liking ― i.e. the emotions. Emotions are an automatic response and by implication, are self-interested ― what YOU like, what YOU don’t like. </p>
<p>Knowledge can be seen as the ego or mind. </p>
<p>We have the emotions ― we have the mind backing them up and justifying them ― but we don’t have the conscience ― concern for other people and long-term consequences. This statement describes the id and ego working together without a super-ego. A recipe for disaster. </p>
<p>After Eve ate the fruit, Adam and Eve realized their nakedness, and were ashamed. Then they got banished from Paradise. </p>
<p>I think it broadly fits as an allegory for morality. </p>
<p></p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://api.ning.com:80/files/sTg6vyO*vvGAWGJmmsnPhW7fVEPDkd-R16L6-9q7kZAFBZAx2w11M3ftfFInbnWp2YcCNvnU4FFjsIVP-IgUZGBlpYqRa35P/foreveratonebiblicalrage.png"><img class="align-full" src="http://api.ning.com:80/files/sTg6vyO*vvGAWGJmmsnPhW7fVEPDkd-R16L6-9q7kZAFBZAx2w11M3ftfFInbnWp2YcCNvnU4FFjsIVP-IgUZGBlpYqRa35P/foreveratonebiblicalrage.png" width="640"/></a></p>In the Garden of Edentag:www.thinkatheist.com,2012-10-06:1982180:BlogPost:11902312012-10-06T05:42:24.000ZHopehttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/hope
<p><em>Okay.. This will sound like a silly story for kids.. It's the Islamic version of the story of Adam..</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>In the Garden of Eden, and that was long time ago, God created Adam in his image! He ordered all his angels to bow to Adam.</p>
<p>But,,,, there is a <em>jealous guy</em> who refused to bow to Adam...Haha</p>
<p>That <em>jealous guy</em> named <em>Satan</em> and that guy was smart BTW, he always like to destroy God's plan… Allah says, O Satan, why you didn't do what I…</p>
<p><em>Okay.. This will sound like a silly story for kids.. It's the Islamic version of the story of Adam..</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>In the Garden of Eden, and that was long time ago, God created Adam in his image! He ordered all his angels to bow to Adam.</p>
<p>But,,,, there is a <em>jealous guy</em> who refused to bow to Adam...Haha</p>
<p>That <em>jealous guy</em> named <em>Satan</em> and that guy was smart BTW, he always like to destroy God's plan… Allah says, O Satan, why you didn't do what I ordered you to do huh? Satan says, well, I am better than Adam.. Adam is a mud guy and I'm a fire guy!</p>
<blockquote><p> "I am better than him (<em>Adam</em>), You created me from fire, and him You created from clay" (7:12)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Well, Adam was so lonely in the Garden,,, and then, God decided to surprise him :)</p>
<p>One day, Adam was sleep and God created another human using Adam's rib! When he woke up,, he was like wow who is this! That's Eve your girlfriend, Allah says! I saw you lonely so I created her so have fun! But be aware not to eat from that tree!</p>
<p>Satan don't like seeing Adam and Eve happy.. He knows that God will kick there asses off if they ate from that tree..</p>
<p>That was the next new plan for Satan!</p>
<p>He came to them and said; "You know why God forbade eating from that specific tree?</p>
<p>That's because he don’t want you to become immortals.."</p>
<p>Then they eat that damn fruit and discover their genitals as a result of this sin!</p>
<blockquote><p> And We said: O Adam, dwell thou and thy wife in the garden, and eat from it a plenteous (food) wherever you wish, and approach not this tree, lest you be of the unjust.</p>
<p> But the devil made them slip from it, and caused them to depart from the state in which they were. And We said: Go forth, some of you are the enemies of others. And there is for you in the earth an abode and a provision for a time.</p>
<p><span class="QuranDataSmall">(2:35-36)</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span id="result_box" lang="en" class="short_text" xml:lang="en"><span class="hps">For this</span> <span class="hps">reason</span> <span class="hps">you see them</span> <span class="hps">in this picture below covering their genitals with leaves :P</span></span></p>
<p><span lang="en" class="short_text" xml:lang="en"><span class="hps"><a href="http://api.ning.com:80/files/jkyVlakrgiJFcrupGGc4u-*eSvGOE9A5Qy10ubv*3RRCOY5fUYlhBDf1ZpH7*8D52f3igHeclVmm9qLf6TOG681qrvAvZiRM/adam_and_eve.jpeg" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://api.ning.com:80/files/jkyVlakrgiJFcrupGGc4u-*eSvGOE9A5Qy10ubv*3RRCOY5fUYlhBDf1ZpH7*8D52f3igHeclVmm9qLf6TOG681qrvAvZiRM/adam_and_eve.jpeg" width="249"/></a><a href="http://api.ning.com:80/files/Bk44osFjKT3Rg-Oj6hPalTaQ-r6KQgmhk1lUd677U6RNXniNVGXYfvRRJraaMdXlablw2OM*gXEfktCAhV15tj94qN1JMWc6/imagesCACTQWMW.jpg" target="_self"></a></span></span></p>
<p>So, that's it?</p>
<p>That's why God kicked them out?</p>
<p>How come this happened?</p>
<p>I mean why is eating from a specific tree is considered a big sin?! If God have some problems with Satan then, why we are involved in this? why cant he just fix his problem with that naughty guy and keep us out this? Do we deserve to inherit the ability of sin from our mom and dad? Why did not He created us without any ability of sin just like his perfect angles?</p>
<p>There is one answer for all these questions;</p>
<p> 1- It is simply because he created <em>"Hell"</em> before creating mankind and made them sinners.. He just wanted an excuse to burn them!</p>
<p>Or,</p>
<p>2-God is Satan himself.</p>
<p>Or,</p>
<p>3- God is just a stupid myth.</p>
<p>Can't believe that I used to believe in that crap! Ugh!</p>Letting go..tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2012-01-11:1982180:BlogPost:10242042012-01-11T17:29:58.000ZRichard heskethhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/Richardhesketh
<h3 class="post-title entry-title"><a href="http://athomium.blogspot.com/2011/11/letting-go.html">Letting go</a></h3>
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<p>A letter to an amenable literalist.<br></br> <br></br> ..thank you. You too. It's rare to find a Christian apologist who acknowledges the benefits of politeness in discourse!<br></br> <br></br> I was merely saying, I am less inclined to <i>argue</i> here. (There is little to be gained by trading punches with ghosts, holy or otherwise). I am however very…</p>
<h3 class="post-title entry-title"><a href="http://athomium.blogspot.com/2011/11/letting-go.html">Letting go</a></h3>
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<p>A letter to an amenable literalist.<br/> <br/> ..thank you. You too. It's rare to find a Christian apologist who acknowledges the benefits of politeness in discourse!<br/> <br/> I was merely saying, I am less inclined to <i>argue</i> here. (There is little to be gained by trading punches with ghosts, holy or otherwise). I am however very interested to know why someone of previously good reason would kick over the traces and hitch his creativity to a belief in God. Especially a god constructed by the barely literate, from the shreds of other myths and legends and whose narrative is held together by a kind of cod poly-philosophy.<br/> <br/> I have some sympathy with your reluctance to return without your hand holder. It is a wonderful thing, to have conviction.<br/> <br/></p>
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<p><br/> There are gods I shall miss. In the process of moving on from childish things, I have now abandoned any fancies I may have entertained about being graced in paradise gardens by the young blue Krishna. I no longer yearn for the towering palely lit Mountains of the Moon where the only breeze is borne on the breath of angels and serves to gently tease the leaves of Yggdrasil. My frequent search for evidence of the paranormal no longer troubles me and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia">pareidolia</a> remains an amusing distraction. nothing more.<br/> <br/></p>
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<p> <br/> That <i>other</i> state of being, allied to a loss of self and designed to throw the ego to the whim of god, no longer bothers me. I have now become near grown up and relish the beginning of my education. What went before was fine and served well to glue my person to the backing papers as required. <br/></p>
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<p><br/> Now, it is of more interest to me what happens in the quantum universe. Where rules are fluid things and understanding is hard won. I am more willing to put the effort in. At long last!<br/> <br/> Yours is a seemingly comfortable place. So long as the ties that bind you to your god aren’t loosened. It is fascinating to hear you and those others of your bent, eloquently comparing and contrasting your beliefs with our knowledge. Straining to apply ’faith’ to our understanding and desperate to oblige inquisitiveness with evidence; only to find yourselves falling once more to scripture. Not a textbook, nor an instruction leaflet. A go-to document however, whose verses have been scoured and reinterpreted over the last thousand years by those who's driving motive has been the control of others. (I include the effort exercised by scribes to salvage something human from the older testaments as humanity began to feel compassion for itself and a prophet seemed a good idea).<br/> <br/> It still works.<br/></p>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boo!</td>
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<p>And if, as we have discussed, the simplicity and beauty of the verses is challenged by us as ’fiction’ you turn to terms such as ’hating god’ and ’insolence’ in an effort to aggrandise your faith and elevate your argument above humanity.<br/> <br/> You talk of the ’New Atheists’. I repost with well meant scorn for your own arrogance. We have been around for as long as reason and self awareness itself. You talk of an earth no older than Sequoia, of dinosaurs and humans coexisting on the plains, of Natural Selection as a 'Faith' and Darwin as a 'New God' to those of us who reject your own. You fundamental literalists have only been around this same length of time. You are the unquestioning and willing victims of your own circular argument and other's political and financial success. At best.<br/> <br/> The fact of this new medium’s ability to make our feelings known may make you flinch. This is no new movement though. It merely benefits from the internet’s ability to spread ideas as they develop. You too could benefit as greatly. It's merely that your understanding has no scope for development. It can't share the planet with humanism. Not because there is no room for variety, more because the majority are now inclined to offer real, physical hand holding. A steadying grip whilst you gradually relinquish yours on the malevolent grasp of fairies.<br/> <br/> Welcome to the bottom of the garden, here's a spade... <br/></p>
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